Elevators, Alarms, Fax & Life-Safety Lines—Modern, Compliant, Auditable
POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) Replacement migrates analog copper lines to modern voice and data—without breaking elevators, fire/burglar alarms, emergency phones, fax, modems, and other legacy endpoints.
SolveForce delivers carrier-grade alternatives (SIP/PRI/LTE/5G gateways) with battery/UPS, 911/NG911 compliance, and continuous monitoring—so you keep life-safety and regulatory functions online, tested, and documented.
Related pages: SIP Trunking → /sip-trunking • PRI → /pri • Mobile → /mobile-connectivity • SD-WAN → /sd-wan • Cybersecurity → /cybersecurity
🎯 Outcomes (Why replace POTS with SolveForce)
- Continuity — keep elevator phones, alarm panels, fire/burglar lines, and emergency phones operating under modern networks.
- Compliance-ready — 911/NG911 address mapping, test-call artifacts, battery/UPS runtime documentation.
- Cost control — retire costly copper, consolidate to SIP/PRI/LTE/5G while preserving analog endpoints.
- Observability — heartbeat, line status, and test logs to SIEM/SOAR for audit trails.
- Migration without downtime — side-by-side cutovers and fallbacks, site by site.
🧭 Scope (What we convert)
- Life-safety & critical: elevator/emergency phones, fire panels, burglar panels, blue-light/station phones, gate/door intercoms.
- Operations: fax, postage meters, point-of-sale modems, SCADA/telemetry, paging, analog conference units.
Note: Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) and local codes govern life-safety integrations. We align installs and documentation accordingly.
🧱 Replacement Building Blocks
- Analog Telephone Adapters (ATA) / FXS Gateways — present FXS to legacy devices; backhaul via SIP/PRI/LTE/5G.
- SIP Trunks — elastic voice with E911/NG911, DID mapping, and QoS. → /sip-trunking
- PRI (23B+D / 30B+D) — deterministic trunks where PBX/legacy integration needs TDM. → /pri
- LTE/5G Voice Gateways — last-mile independence from copper; eSIM/dual-carrier options. → /mobile-connectivity
- Battery/UPS — specified runtime (commonly 8–24 hrs per policy); optional generator interface.
- Monitoring — heartbeat, failover, test-call results, and power status to NOC/SIEM. → /noc • /siem-soar
🧰 Design Patterns (Pick your fit)
A) Elevator & Emergency Phones (Life-Safety)
- FXS gateway (POTS line simulator) with SIP backhaul or LTE/5G when wireline is unavailable.
- Battery/UPS sized to AHJ expectations; monthly test calls logged with timestamps & recordings.
B) Fire & Burglar Alarm Communicators**
- Dual-path: primary IP/SIP + secondary LTE/5G; supervised heartbeat; failover alarms.
- Document account numbers/receiver IPs, and capture cutover acceptance tests.
C) Fax & Modem Lines
- T.38 for fax over SIP or G.711 pass-through if vendor requires; test common page sizes & durations.
- For telemetry/modems, validate specific baud/handshake; consider SHDSL or private APN for finicky devices. → /dsl
D) Campus Consolidation
- Central FXS chassis in IDF/MDF; SIP trunks at core; SD-WAN steers voice by SLO; PRI gateway for PBX coexist. → /sd-wan • /pri
E) Remote/Hard-to-Reach Sites
- LTE/5G gateway with dual SIM/carriers; IPsec to hub; antenna plan; weatherized enclosure. → /mobile-connectivity
📐 SLO Guardrails (Targets you can measure)
| KPI / Function | Target (Recommended) |
|---|---|
| Dial tone availability | ≥ 99.95% (per line) |
| Battery/UPS runtime | ≥ 8–24 hrs (policy/AHJ driven) |
| E911/NG911 provisioning | = 100% of numbers with confirmed test |
| Failover time (primary→backup) | ≤ 30–60 s (life-safety ≤ 10–30 s) |
| Monitoring heartbeat | ≤ 60 s interval with alert on miss |
| Evidence completeness | 100% (install photos, configs, tests) |
SLO breaches open tickets and trigger SOAR actions (reroute, reboot, dispatch). → /siem-soar
🔒 911 / NG911 & Safety Controls
- Address & location data mapped for every DID/endpoint; floor/room/ELIN where required.
- Test calls to PSAP documented with date/time, operator name, and audio clip where permitted.
- Caller ID consistency per device type; emergency call routing policies locked down.
- Change control — number moves/changes require ticket + approval + post-change test.
⚙️ Networking & Power Notes
- Backhaul — SIP over fiber/coax/DSL/LTE/5G; IPsec to hub for deterministic paths.
- QoS — prioritize life-safety signaling and emergency voice; rate-limit bulk.
- Power — dedicated UPS per gateway with runtime logs; generator integration at critical sites.
- Environmental — temperature/humidity limits for enclosures; surge/grounding for rooftop LTE/5G antennas.
📊 Observability & NOC
- Monitor: registration status, MOS (where supported), packet loss/jitter/latency, battery state, failover events, test-call success.
- Dashboards & monthly reports; carrier/SIP escalation runbooks.
→ /circuit-monitoring • /noc
💵 Commercials (No surprises)
- Per-line conversions (count & type), gateways (ATA/FXS chassis), SIP/PRI capacity, LTE/5G data plans.
- Power (UPS runtime), install labor (IDF/MDF wiring, elevator machine room access), AHJ coordination.
- Terms — 12/24/36 mo; NRC install + MRC service; optional managed monitoring.
🧪 Turn-Up & Acceptance (What we test)
1) Survey — inventory POTS lines by use (elevator, alarm, fax, etc.); record demarc/IDF locations.
2) Install — FXS gateway/ATA, backhaul (SIP/PRI/LTE), UPS; label ports & capture photos.
3) Functional tests — elevator/emergency phone calls, alarm panel supervision, fax send/receive, modem/telemetry.
4) 911/NG911 — live test with PSAP; confirm address, call-back, and routing; archive results.
5) Failover — simulate primary loss; verify LTE/5G cutover and alarm signaling; store artifacts.
Artifacts (configs, photos, test logs, PSAP confirmations) exported to SIEM for audit. → /siem-soar
✅ Pre-Engagement Checklist
- 📋 List each POTS line with purpose, location, device make/model, and owner.
- ☎️ 911/NG911 requirements per site; PSAP test window/s.
- 🔌 Power plan (UPS runtime), generator presence, outlet locations.
- 🌐 Backhaul preference (SIP/PRI/LTE/5G); IPsec to hub yes/no; static IP needs.
- 🧯 AHJ contacts for life-safety; elevator vendor coordination.
- 🧪 Test matrix (elevator, alarms, fax/modem) and evidence format.
- 📊 Monitoring destination (NOC/SIEM), alert thresholds, and escalation tree.
🔄 Where POTS Replacement Fits (Recursive View)
1) Grammar — voice/signaling rides /connectivity underlays (fiber/coax/DSL/LTE/5G).
2) Syntax — delivered via SIP/PRI/LTE patterns with UPS and monitoring.
3) Semantics — /cybersecurity preserves truth; 911/NG911 proves routing & identity.
4) Pragmatics — /solveforce-ai predicts risk windows, flags battery drift, and suggests failover drills.
5) Foundation — consistent terms & records via /primacy-of-language.
6) Map — indexed in the /solveforce-codex & /knowledge-hub.
📞 Replace POTS Lines Without Losing Sleep
Related pages:
/sip-trunking • /pri • /mobile-connectivity • /sd-wan • /cybersecurity • /circuit-monitoring • /noc • /connectivity • /knowledge-hub